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Poland's Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo have also made a winning start to Group Jonas Bjorkman at the Nitto ATP Finals after beating Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek. Kubot and Melo lost the first set despite being up by a break but showed great mental strength and character to recover from a bad start and win 4-6 6-4 10-5.
After saving a break point in the fourth game, Kubot and Melo earned the first break of the match three games later to take a 4-3 lead. However, failing to convert a break point and then losing its serve didn't affect Dodig and Polasek, who claimed back-to-back breaks to overturn the deficit and steal the opener.
Just when all the momentum appeared to be on Dodig and Polasek's side, they dropped their serve in the opening game of the second set and failed to realize any of their two break points in the following game. Kubot and Melo blew four consecutive set points in the ninth game but kept their focus as they served out the following game to love to force a decider.
Kubot and Melo then dominated the match tie-break as they realized their first match point to complete a comeback win. Kubot and Melo hit seven aces, won 76 percent of their first serve points in an hour and 40 minutes of play.
Earlier today, Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus beat Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the opening match at this year's Nitto ATP Finals.